We finally arrived in S�ters though, after a really pleasant drive. We checked into the hotel and gave Renaud a call to tell him where to meet.
I cant say how excited i was about meeting my brother. I was so so excited to meet mum and dad, like i was over the moon when i saw them standing by the car, exactly the same as they were when i left them. But with Renaud it was something else. I mean, i have only become really good friends with my brother in the last year before i left, and i had really really missed him this year. My brother is finally the person i want to have as a brother. I dont mean that he has changed so much as i have adjusted and grown up around him. We are best mates now. We havent always been so, and so i think that maybe i felt i was leaving the team when we were on a really good run. I just missed talking to him, and being able to bag eachother the way we do, that was one thing i really missed. Anyways, that why i was so looking forward to seeing him, in a different way to mum and dad. But enough of all that.
We waited for him at the designated spot, and as he walked down the street he raised his hand as he saw me and in the way that only we can we gave eachother the finger. Yeah i know dont try to understand it, its just the way it is. He made fun of me for my new sunglasses and i told him he was too skinny and he called me all sorts of names because of my long hair, ah, back home! haha.
We sat down over lunch and talked about everything. He had been in S�ters for a couple of weeks already to get training and get settled. It had turned out that he had become a little bit of a local celeb, with an article in the paper. All the people around town knew him, and he was even speaking a word or two of swedish, even if it was really only a word or two! Haha, sorry mate. But he seemed really settled and ready for the big race. I was looking forward to seeing him race, but i think i was more pleased to see him. It was funny to think that our family was all together in Sweden, a place that probably couldnt be further from home! It was nice though. But race day was coming and Renaud was ready for the world champs.
But while he was preparing we let our hair down a little. The little tiny town of S�ters put on a huge festival for the triathlon, and there was a fair, a huge parade and everything else. It was great we went out for two nights and listened to live music, saw dancing, they even had a samba parade, haha, in about 13�C weather! It was such a nice atmosphere, and we were looking so much forward to the race the next day.
Paz